McCarthy & Stone set for £1 billion return to the stock market

Comments Off on McCarthy & Stone set for £1 billion return to the stock market

Retirement builder McCarthy & Stone finally fired the starting gun on a £1 billion stock market return today nearly a decade after it was disastrously taken private on the eve of the credit crunch.

The long-speculated move comes after talks with potential private equity buyers including Bridgepoint came to nothing.

The float will deliver a major payday for Goldman Sachs as well as private equity firms TPG, Anchorage and Strategic Value Partners, who collectively own 57%. A further 26 unnamed investors own the rest.

McCarthy & Stone was founded in 1977 and taken private for £1.1 billion in 2006 by a consortium including Sir Tom Hunter and the billionaire Reuben brothers. But the financial crisis wiped them out.

Chief executive Clive Fenton — who has described his target customers as the “fastest growing demographic in the UK” — said the firm would raise £70 million from the sale of new shares to invest in land and building.

McCarthy & Stone claims 3.5 million people are interested in buying a retirement home.

Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Jefferies are the bookrunners on the float.

Equiniti, which administers shares and pensions for firms such as Marks & Spencer and Royal Mail, set the price range for its float today, giving the firm a value of between £495 million and £600 million.

Equiniti’s float will be open to retail investors willing to buy a minimum £1000 of shares.